ARLINGTON — Argentinian football great Lionel Messi made history again on Monday (today). During the second match in Group J of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, he led the reigning world champions with two goals to a 2-0 victory over the tough Austria of national coach Ralf Rangnick. With the victory in the sold-out AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Argentina secures an early place in the next round.
Early penalty miss and historic 38th minute
The match started stormy. Early in the first half, Argentina were awarded a penalty after VAR intervention. Messi stood behind the ball, but saw his effort turned away by Austrian goalkeeper Alexander Schlager.
Austria, known for its aggressive and fierce Gegenpressing led by Rangnick, took courage from this and boldly attacked with Marcel Sabitzer and Paul Wanner. However, the Argentine defense, with Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martínez, held firm.
In the 38th minute, Messi more than made up for his earlier mistake. After a razor-sharp counter on the left, set up by Facundo Medina, he received the ball in the center of the penalty area. With a precise shot into the short corner, Messi left Schlager without a chance: 1-0.
This goal was historic for several reasons. Messi broke it with this goal all time record of most World Cup goals in history; it was his seventeenth World Cup goal in total. In addition, he became only the third player ever to score in six consecutive World Cup matches, following in the footsteps of Just Fontaine (1958) and Jairzinho (1970). Extra symbolic for the Argentine fans: the match took place exactly forty years after Diego Maradona’s legendary World Cup match against England in 1986.
Austrian offensive fails
After half-time, Austria tried to force the equalizer with fresh forces, including substitute top scorer Marko Arnautović. Although the Austrians played with a lot of physical intensity and Messi was at times shadowed by four men at a time, the Europeans lacked the real creativity to seriously test goalkeeper Emiliano ‘Dibu’ Martínez.
In the absolute final phase of the match, deep into injury time (90+5′), Messi decided the match definitively. After another quick switch, he appeared at the five-meter line to score the 2-0. It was already his fourth goal of this tournament, after he scored a hat-trick against Algeria (3-0) five days earlier.
With two wins, five goals for and zero against, Argentina travels to the final group match against Jordan with a lot of confidence. Austria will have to work hard in the final round against Algeria to still reach the knockout phase.
